Clubhouse quotes from Alex Wood, Dan Uggla, Justin Upton and manager Fredi Gonzalez following Wednesday's 5-2 victory over the Nationals.
**ALEX WOOD
“It was just one of those things, I let my emotions get the best of me there in the latter part of that inning. It was a big situation. I felt the call could have gone the other way, and I kind of did some things, said some things I probably shouldn’t have said. Immediately regretted it once I got inside here.”
“I thought I made a pitch and I didn’t, and I reacted probably the complete opposite way than I should have. I probably still would have been in the game if I didn’t react the way I did. I regret it. I just hope there’s no hard feelings there. C.B. and I are going to hopefully have a talk. I want to see him soon and give my apologies for the way I reacted.”
After watching video of the pitch, your thoughts?
“He called it a ball, so it’s a ball.”
On gathering yourself to face Harper after the Werth walk and angry reaction
“Tonight was kind of a weird thing, because I feel like I’m usually as composed and together as you could ask someone to be out there. Every now and then, this game kind of gets you going. Tonight was one of those nights. Hopefully I’ll be able to regroup, which I will, and it’ll be something you won’t see for a very long time, if ever again.”
On emotions of the game
“Every time you come in here and play the Nationals, they’re our rival in the league and every game you play, especially now when we’re trying to clinch the division, is huge. And so every time out there against them you feel that playoff feeling. I haven’t gotten to experience this level of playoffs yet, but I’ve been in a few big games in my career. It was an exciting atmosphere out there tonight, especially after the way the last two days went. I think it was really big for us to come out and end up getting a win tonight.”
What you did seemed to light a fire for the team
“I don’t know if that’s what happened, but it definitely makes me feel a little better that (the Braves) ended up scoring some runs and winning the game. There’s no doubt, tonight was a huge win for us, and hopefully how we played in the last half of that game will translate into how we play the rest of the season going into the playoffs.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Wood’s reaction to ump’s call and getting ejected
“Obviously I couldn’t tell if it was a ball or strike from the dugout. The way the young man reacted, he has three months in the big leagues, he’s not going to overreact that way. After coming up here and looking at it from two or three different angles, it was a tough pitch. But nevertheless, I thought it was a strike.
“You want fiery emotions, but that’s something that Roger and I will talk about. Whether you’re a rookie or a veteran, you don’t do that kind of stuff on the mound. But he was fired up. He made a hell of a pitch on Werth and he almost gets out of that jam. And we end up Loe getting out of that jam and then we piece it together the rest of the way.”
On Kimbrel
“It’s nice to get Kimbrel the ball back in his hands in a save situation after one of those rare blown saves that he gets. Get him back on the horse again.”
On the offense
“Big offensive nights by Uggla, the solo homer, and the two-run homer by Upton, and McCann with the RBI double was nice.”
On first-pitch homers by Uggla and Upton after Ohlendort had faced 15 batters through five
“He was pretty darn effective. He made a couple of mistakes to a couple of guys that can run you out of the ballpark. Lucky for us that we did. It was a nice team win. I think we used everybody on the roster to get the win. After losing that tough first game yesterday, it was nice to get back to winning.”
More on why Wood’s initial reaction to the ball 4 call was bad
“You don’t want your starter to get thrown out of the game. In that situation, even though he was coming out of the game. That’s something you learn from and control your emotion. I think some of our veteran guys will talk to him. I know I will talk to him because later on in his career, that same situation is going to happen in the fourth or fifth inning and you want him to finish the game. You don’t want him to lose his composure that way.
“We’re going to chalk it up as a young starter in an emotional game that we wanted to win, and he got himself a little excited.”
Ever seen that much emotion from him?
“No, he’s been up here four or five months and we really haven’t seen that type of emotion. But it was a game full of emotion after losing game 1 yesterday and where we’re at in our situation. There’s a lot of emotions going on. I thought we came out and fought as a team. And I mean that as, we battled their pitcher. And got to shake hands afterward.”
On how Wood could have gotten tossed for his initial reaction after the ball 4 call on Werth
“There’s umpires around the league that wouldn’t put up with that, and rightfully so. Maybe I got out there quick enough to kind of let him in the game for a couple more hitters. But yeah, there’s umpires in the league that as soon as you (do that), you’re out of the game. And we’ve seen it. That’s why I want, between some of the veteran pitchers on this team and Roger and I, (let him know) don’t let that happen again.”
On Uggla
“We’ve seen him get hot, and hopefully he’s getting hot at the right time.”
On winning 13 of 19 games against the Nats
“Our pitching did a hell of a job and we held on to leads most of the time.”
On the offense
“We’ve been inconsistent all year. We’ve just got to keep battling. Maybe when Jason comes back he energizes us a little bit, because he’s been terrific in the leadoff spot. You see McCann and Uggla start swinging the bat, and who knows? If you’re lucky enough to get into the postseason, maybe the offense wakes up. It’s a different season.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On the offense waking up in the sixth inning
“We struggled early, but it was bound to happen — we’ve struggled for a while here, and at some point we had to break out.”
On the win
“We knew we had to get this one. We struggled at home, we struggled yesterday in the first two games of the series, so this was a big one for us. And the guys stepped up.”
On Wood’s fiery response and ejection, seemed to provide a spark
“Yeah, it definitely brought some energy to us. He was out there grinding for us and battling. Obviously he thought he had made the big pitch for us and it didn’t happen for him. He was fired up and we knew he wanted this one. We all wanted it. So we had to go get it.”
On finally being on the cusp of clinching the division
“We have to finish. That’s one thing we have to learn how to do, is finish. Until we win these two games and it’s over with, it’s not done. We’ve got to finish.”
**DAN UGGLA
On the big sixth-inning offense coming after Wood’s fifth-inning ejection
“I think it all kind of came together. Woody made a great pitch, didn’t go our way. I like seeing that fire out of a young kid like that. He expressed his displeasure over it. You know, that’s going to happen. It’s not going to be the last time it happens.”
On his first-pitch homer to start the inning
“I was contemplating on whether or not to try and work the count coming up, but since (Wood) came out of the game, he didn’t need a rest, so I was looking to drive something.”
Did you think Wood’s ejection lit a fire, got the team going?
“You can never tell. Something like that, it can spark something sometimes. Sometimes the other pitcher is just going to bear down. Right after I hit that homer, Jordan did a great job of putting one down, putting the heat on him, and got all the way to third. That was an awesome play.”
On the win after three-game skid
“That’s what we needed to do tonight. Got a great start out of Woody. Our bullpen was great. Got some big hits tonight — Justin’s homer was huge, and B-Mac got us a little later on. So it was a good win for us to kind of cap off the season series with these guys on a good note. Looking forward to strapping on with Chicago.”
On Uggla having a good series, a hit in each game
“I was feeling good before (the manager) decided to sit me. I’ve got to keep working and wait for him to five me another opportunity. I’ve done all the work I can, I’m just going to be me and keep going the way I’ve been going.”
